The award-winning Carbon8 company was formed in February 2006 as a spin-out from the University of Greenwich, following seven years of research into the treatment of wastes and soils within the Centre for Contaminated Land Remediation.

The company was set up to market 'Accelerated Carbonation', the process it developed which can reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill sites by recycling what is generally regarded as rubbish into something re-useable. It can also be used to treat hazardous, contaminated soils and industrial waste thus lowering the cost of disposal.

Carbon8 recently won The Shell Springboard Award for small firms with big plans for combating climate change.

Paula Carey is one of four founding Directors of Carbon8 (three of them from the University of Greenwich and one from University College, London). Today she is responsible for the day-to-day running of the company.

Her background is in Geology (BSc St Andrews and PhD Keele) and she remains an academic at the University of Greenwich School of Science, but looks to work increasingly for the company.

What innovation scooped the Shell Springboard Award?

"The project we put forward for the Award is the idea of capturing CO2 from landfill gas emissions - particularly where methane is being flared - and using the gas to treat wastes and contaminated soils that would otherwise disposed of at the landfill, using carbonation as a pre-treatment or to manufacture construction materials from the waste.

"This approach is a further refinement of the Accelerated Carbonation process. At present we use bottled waste CO2 to carry out the process but are now developing the technology to capture the CO2 emitted from landfill sites at source, which would create even greater carbon savings.

"Landfills generate three per cent of the UK's carbon emissions. It currently costs up to £200 to dispose of each tonne of hazardous waste. Accelerated Carbonation could reduce this cost by half, plus it creates a useful by-product to sell on."

How does this process work?

"A number of industrial wastes naturally react with CO2 in the air but the reaction can take six months to two years. What Carbon8 does, as the name suggests, is use Accelerated Carbonation to fast-forward this process and produce carbonates or limestone which can be used in a number of applications, particularly building.

"In just 15-20 minutes, it turns one man's rubbish into another man's building materials, which not only diverts waste from landfill sites but permanently captures CO2 in a very useful form.

"The process uses the natural reactivity of thermal residues or ashes with carbon dioxide, calcium and magnesium salts in the wastes - wastes such as municipal incinerator fly ashes, steel slags, paper recycling ashes or biomass ash - to form carbonates, permanently locking up the carbon dioxide as a solid. One tonne of these wastes can typically take up between 0.1 and 0.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide (100kg - 300kg)."

What applications can it be used for?

"We can treat soils contaminated with heavy metals and to a lesser extent organics through the addition of a reactive 'binder' such as cement but also waste such as cement kiln dust, enabling the soil to be reused on site.

"We also treat air pollution control residues (fly ashes) which currently have to be disposed of to hazardous landfill, either by making them non-hazardous or by forming aggregate for use as engineering fill-in, lightweight concrete blocks or as green roofing.

"In addition, we can treat wastes that are non-reactive themselves but are problematic because they are sludges or too fine. Such wastes include water treatment sludges, quarry fines or oil drill cuttings."

Are there other benefits?

"The process offers huge potential for businesses and for local councils as well as substantially cutting emissions. Just one municipal waste incinerator processes 60,000 tonnes of hazardous waste per year. Seven tonnes of waste can capture 1 tonne of CO2 so we could capture 8,500 tonnes of CO2 per year - equivalent to the CO2 produced annually by anything up to 6,000 cars.

"Biomass burners are considered carbon neutral but we could make them carbon negative.

"Buildings constructed with our products would have carbon dioxide locked up in the walls! They could be carbon negative too.

"And as I said, it costs up to £200 to dispose of one tonne of hazardous waste. We calculate that our process could save just one plant a potential £6million a year."

Which major firms have used this technology?

"We still have to make the breakthrough with a full industrial application but we are working with a number of companies to move from pilot scale to full scale - hopefully within a matter of weeks rather than months. We have research and development projects with Shell looking at drill cuttings; with Eon looking at ashes from a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant, and Viridor Waste Management looking at a variety of ashes."

Is the battle against climate change a question of changing minds and habits or one of developing new technologies?

"Most companies are reluctant to put the money up to bring new technologies from the lab scale to the full-blown industrial scale. They want an off- the-shelf solution: a cost-effective answer that is already proven.

"The advantage that Carbon8 has is that capturing carbon dioxide is an added bonus for the technology rather than principle aim as the process provides huge savings on disposal costs and produces a product which has value.

"If we can get money for the CO2 captured as well it just improves the economics of an already profitable process."

Is there enough government assistance for climate change entrepreneurs?

"Carbon8 are fortunate to be a Carbon Trust incubator company so are getting very valuable business support from Isis Enterprise in Oxford. Otherwise it has been very difficult to get funding for our technology from government research funding schemes because we don't quite fit in the boxes."

Do business and industry take climate change R&D seriously enough?

"More companies are taking an interest in our work because of the pressure to make carbon savings and the landfill gas project has 'legs' because of the pressure local government is under to improve their carbon credentials and they own a number of landfill sites.

"However the waste industry is a difficult one because it is inherently conservative and highly regulated so industry is looking for a proven solution rather than to invest in new technologies.

"We have the advantage of several years of pilot scale trials and data on the long-term performance of our treated materials."

Tell us what you are working on right now?

"We are currently working on the landfill gas capture issues; the treatment of drill cuttings from the North Sea; the treatment of ashes from waste-to-energy plants and the manufacture of aggregates from these ashes. In addition we are looking at the use of gas from gas flues such as those from waste-to-energy plants or biomass burners."

What advice do you have for climate change managers?

"Saving carbon can save you money."

And what advice for climate change entrepreneurs?

"Be persistent - if you have a good idea someone will take notice if you keep pressing."

How important are the Shell and similar awards for firms like yours?

"Because we work in a conservative market, awards such as the Shell Award (we are also the Kent Innovation Challenge winners 2007, the IChemE Green Chemical Innovation award winners 2006 and the Kent Environment Business of the year 2006) give our technology credibility. The Shell Award has given us lots of excellent publicity and is particularly good because of the reputation of the people on the judging panel."

Low Carbon Board Report

Shades Of Green In The Energy Supply

The Government has a long way to go to meet its “aspirational” target of deriving 20% of the UK's electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Around 4.6% of the UK's electricity comes from renewable sources, with biomass and biofuels the dominant technologies, accounting for about half of this total.

Over the next decade or so this balance is likely to shift, wind power becoming “the dominant renewable technology to help reach our 2020 aspiration”, says the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Apart from wind and biomass, renewable sources of energy include solar, wave and tidal, hydroelectric, and geothermal. They all have drawbacks, such as the constancy of supply, efficiency, cost, regulatory hurdles, or geographical location.

Wind is an intermittent energy source, and can require a lengthy approval process for inshore installations. Geothermal and hydroelectric sources are only available in specific geographical locations, but hydroelectric has efficiency of up to 90%, as compared to the 10 to 20% achievable with solar panels, for example.

Government policy will require mainstream energy suppliers to use these sources, and so all UK energy consumers will rely partly on renewables. In January this year, Secretary of State John Hutton mapped out the broad features of this strategy.

This included strengthening the Renewables Obligation on electricity suppliers as part of the Energy Bill, a public consultation on the options for meeting the UK share of the EU 2020 target, and a Renewable Energy Strategy to be published in the spring of 2009, after the EU Directive has been passed and the UK contribution finalised.

Key questions for companies

Some companies are likely to consider switching some of their energy supply to renewable sources independently of government policy. The Carbon Trust suggests they consider two initial issues to see if this is feasible. First, they should calculate the energy requirement and the cuts that can be made to this – so reducing the demands on the new source – and assessing whether renewable energy is appropriate to meet their requirements.

There is a range of business benefits, including reduced reliance on fossil fuel, lower energy bills, having a backup if fossil fuel supply fails, improved ‘green’ credentials, and opportunities to sell renewable electricity to distributors at a premium.

Businesses will also be exempt from the Climate Change Levy for that part of their energy use made up of renewable sources.

Although progress has been made with renewable energy but there are still significant barriers. The payback period tends to be long, and the grid network is still not fully equipped to take electricity supplies back from small producers.

Companies need to identify the key patterns in their energy use, whether it is mainly for power or heat, whether it is constant or fluctuates over 24 hour or seasonal periods, and what proportion of the energy supply is suitable for replacement by renewables.

Once an appropriate renewable energy source has been identified, a feasibility study should be undertaken to determine physical constraints such as space, the economic viability of the project, and the risks of switching to a renewable energy supply, including the planning permission issues. Many companies find it appropriate to use experienced consultants for this phase of the project.

The growth of a new industry

“Quite often renewables are not part of the day job in companies, so it’s a tough ask for them to do this,” says Mike Bullard, Consulting Group Director at Enviros Consulting, a specialist in this area. The company is working with clients such as Tesco to set up a network of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) installations that burn biomass materials such as woodchips and straw. The supermarket is also examining the feasibility of ground source energy and generating up to 2MW from wind turbines.

Retailers in general and supermarkets in particular are showing increasing interest in renewables, says Bullard. “Supermarkets tend to watch their competitors very closely. This fits in with their Corporate Social Responsibility policies, which they tend to be very aware of because of the public-facing nature of their business.”

The growing emphasis on renewable energy also plays well with the food sector because it helps companies deal with their waste management obligations, says Bullard. “If rottable food material is put in a sealed vessel it will produce methane,” he says.

A notable investor in renewables has been the Co-operative Group. In September 2004 it launched the Merchant Wind project, building six wind turbines in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire to supply the company itself and also green electricity generator Ecotricity.

The Co-operative Group has also experimented with wind on a smaller scale, installing 19 micro-wind turbines on the roof of its 13-storey CIS building in Manchester. According to the company, this was the largest-ever commercial application of micro-wind turbines in the UK at that time, and generates more than 3% of the electricity needs of the building while saving 19 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The company has also made forays into solar power, installing more than 7,000 photovoltaic cell panels in the CIS Tower.

A practical demonstration

Those companies wanting a closer look at the practicalities of renewable energy can contact the small number of demonstration projects in operation. An example is the Hydrogen Office in Fife, Scotland, which launched in January 2008.

Supported by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association, the project aims to show how renewable energy can meet the needs of a 1,200 square foot office building with 100 staff.

As its name suggests, the project focuses on the use of hydrogen gas as part of a renewable energy strategy, in particular to tackle issues such as the intermittent nature of renewable sources. In effect, hydrogen acts as a temporary store of energy by using electrochemistry to convert tap water into the gas, leaving pure water behind after it is burned.

“If you run an organisation that absolutely requires power, this is an option,” explains project manager Derek Mitchell. “If you need an uninterrupted supply the other options are batteries or generators. If you are out in the countryside that is OK, but where space is a premium they are a problem. This technology can be fitted into a server room. All you need is access to a boiler flue,” he says.

The hydrogen technology is used to store excess energy generated by wind turbines on the site. Although the office still depends on the grid for a proportion of its needs, the aim is to operate at 20% of the building on a “stand alone” basis, using power directly from renewable sources or from hydrogen, says Mitchell.

Its lack of bulk, portability and potential as a back-up supply means that hydrogen is drawing interest from the hospitals, armed forces and police services, he says. “There’s a police station in Central Park, New York, that uses this technology.”

Key questions:

• What parts of our business require an uninterrupted electricity supply?
• What business benefits could microgeneration provide for us?
• What renewable energy source would be suited to our needs?